The Land of Giants

Posted on 06/10/2015

First of all I think its pretty cool that Iceland had a electrical pylon design competition in 2008. So credit to Icelandic electrical transmission company Landsnet and the Association of Icelandic Architects. I can’t quite believe its 2015 and I’m only reading about this now! But its lovely so better late than never. I remember travelling around Australia and seeing vast swaths of the environment mown down by these pylons and wires. It always looked so destructive to me. So to find a way of making something that scars the environment into something of beauty is wonderful.

I’ve seen some amazing entries online but I admit my favourite was the entry from Choi+Shine called “The Land of Giants”. You can read their rationale here but I particularly liked this line:

“Like the statues of Easter Island, it is envisioned that these one hundred and fifty foot tall, modern caryatids will take on a quiet authority, belonging to their landscape yet serving the people, silently transporting electricity across all terrain, day and night, sunshine or snow.”